US

The US Department of Energy recently announced that the energy efficiency criteria necessary for refrigerators to be granted the Energy Star® label are to become more stringent. In order to qualify, refrigerators will need to be 20% more efficient than current federal energy efficiency standards, as of April 28, 2008, compared with 15 % previously. The label aims at providing consumers with greater options for purchasing energy-efficient models. According to annual projected sales data, 2.2 million refrigerators should be sold after the label has been upgraded, saving over 230 million kWh of energy over the first years after purchase. Current Energy Star®-qualified refrigerators use 65% less energy than refrigerator models in 1980.